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A statement from the Baha'i International
Community's Office of Public Information

(with the approval of the Universal House of Justice)

Extracts from a letter of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States to the American Baha'i Community for the Feast of Baha, dated March 20, 1999:

"As we approach the 21st Century, a number of inquiries have been received by Baha'i communities and individuals about our expectations for the year 2000. The Universal House of Justice has provided a 'brief statement on peace among the nations which may be used as the basis for responding to such queries' which we are pleased to share with you."

PEACE AMONG THE NATIONS

World Peace, a hallmark of the emerging global civilization, will be realized as a tangible expression of the principle of the oneness of humankind. This assurance is given in the teachings of Baha'u'llah.

Such a peace will result from the culmination of two distinct but simultaneous and mutually reinforcing processes: one leading to the spiritual unity of the human race, referred to as the "Most Great Peace"; the other to the political unity of nations and known as the "Lesser Peace". The former is a distant goal, requiring a monumental change in human conduct that only religious faith can ensure; the other is more immediate and can already be detected on the political horizon. The one is directly related to the efforts of the Baha'i community in promoting the pivotal principle of their Faith; the other is dependent on the actions of world political leaders and not on any Baha'i plan or action.

The political unity of nations implies the achievement of a relationship among them that will enable them to resolve questions of international import through consultation rather than war and that will lead to the establishment of a world government. The attainment of peace in the political realm is discernible through the workings of a process that can be seen as having been definitely established in the twentieth century amid the terror and turmoil that have characterized so much of this period. It is noteworthy that the majority of the nations have come into being during this century and that they have opted for peaceful relations with one another by joining in the membership of the United Nations and through participation in regional organizations that facilitate their working together. Moreover, the process of political unification is gaining acceleration through the awakening of a consciousness of peace among the world's peoples that validates the work of the United Nations, and through advances in science and technology, which have already contracted and transformed the world into a single complex organism.

The horrific experiences of two world wars which gave birth at first to the League of Nations and then to the United Nations; the frequency with which world leaders, particularly in the decade of the nineties, have met and agreed on the resolution of global issues; the call for a global order that issued from the participation of these leaders in the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations; the multiplication of organizations of civil society that focus attention on a variety of international concerns through the operation of an ever-expanding network of activities; the widespread debates on the need for global governance and numerous organized efforts towards world peace; the emergence of international tribunals; the rapid developments in communications technology that have made the planet borderless -- these are among the voluminous evidences of a momentum toward peaceful international relations that has clearly become irreversible.

The Baha'i writings indicate that peace among the nations will be established in the twentieth century; they do say, however, that a universal fermentation and horrendous social upheavals would mark the transition from a warlike world to a peaceful one, but they do not point to the occurrence of any specific cataclysmic event at the end of the century. Inevitably, the movement leading to world unity must encounter opposing tendencies rooted in stubborn habits of chauvinism and partisanship that refuse to yield to the expectations of a new age. The torturous suffering imposed by such conditions as poverty, war, violence, fanaticism, disease, and degradation of the environment, to which masses of people are subjected, is a consequence of this opposition. Hence, before the peace of nations matures into a comprehensive reality, it must pass through difficult stages, not unlike those experienced by individual nations until their internal consolidation was achieved. But that the process toward peace is far advanced can hardly be denied.

(This paper was made available by the Baha'i International Community's Office of Public Information [with the approval of the Universal House of Justice] in response to a question about the Lesser Peace and the catastrophic events of the end of the Twentieth Century. The Office suggests it can be used "as a basis for response to this and other such questions".)